Mindy McCready feared losing her sons in the days leading up to her apparent suicide, according to reports out this week.

McCready was living in fear of losing her sons, and has been described as having "lost all hope" in the days leading to her tragic death. According to her private investigator friend Danno Hanks: "The most important thing are my babies must come home. She lost all hope," according to People Magazine.

The star had two sons, 6 year old Zander, and 10 month old Zayne. It has been reported that McCready had recently gone onto rehab under a court order, and feared that she would lose her children.

Reports have also described that the star had previously been caught up in a custody battle with Billy McKnight over their youngest son, but this time she feared she would not come out of everything with her children by her side.

It now appears as though the country singer was in a custody battle to keep her two boys from her estranged mother.

McKnight, meanwhile, has gone on the Today Show following McCready's death, and has spoken to the show about his 6 year old son Zander: "He has had a rough first six years. He deserves better than this and my heart is broken for him right now. I'm very worried."

In other reports surrounding her death, it has been confirmed that McCready shot her dog before herself on Sunday in Heber Springs, Arkansas.

The troubled country music star's death also comes a little more than a month after the suicide of her younger child's father, David Wilson, on Jan. 13.

McCready's shooting of her dog came around 3 p.m. before the star committed suicide with a single shot to the head. The spot where the 37-year-old fired the fatal bullet was on her porch at her home- it was the exact spot Wilson died. In Wilson's case, the dog played a key role as well.

"I didn't find the bullet, the dog did," the mother of one told Dateline NBC at the time. "It was in the dog's mouth. I mean, that's a horrific thing to say, but it was in the dog's mouth."

When McCready killed herself Sunday, police were called because of multiple shots fired and were quick to arrive on the scene. Unfortunately, nothing could be done for the "Ten Thousand Angels" singer by the time authorities and emergency services got to her home.

"Deputies from the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a report of gun shots fired in the area of 1132 Fox Chase Drive in Heber Springs," a statement from the sheriff's office read. "Officers arrived on the scene at 3:58 PM and discovered the body of 37 year old Melinda Gayle McCready on the front porch of the residence … Ms. McCready was pronounced dead at the scene from what appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound."

McCready previously had problems with prescription drugs in the past, and police have transported the body to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for a thorough autopsy. However, when the troubled singer was released from a treatment facility earlier this month, she reportedly was clean and sober.

"She was released because they think she is mentally stable enough, and she was tested for drugs and alcohol and everything came up fine. Nothing illegal came up," a source told E! News. "One of the reasons they released her is she didn't have any symptoms of what an alcoholic would have. There were no signs she had a problem to the doctor."

Zayne, 9, and Zander, 6 were in foster care at the time of her death.

Fellow country singer Chely Wright said of McCready: "People talk about a train wreck, but the world lost a real person, a human being, a mother. I'm praying for her kids," according to the NYDaily News.